As EU grapples with fierce AI competition, summit overshadowed by elusive Ukraine-Russia peace deal

EU leaders will discuss artificial intelligence together for the first time in Dublin. These are seen as critical talks that will further guide the bloc's policy on the rapidly evolving technology. Now, the EU sees it's trying to strengthen its position against the United States and China amid challenges over funding and investment. For more, I'm joined by Fabrice Pottier. Thank you. He's the CEO of the political consultancy firm Rasmussen Global. He joins us from Athens. Hello to you. Fabrice, first question for you, I guess, is why is Europe struggling to keep pace with the U.S. and China? Well, look at the numbers. I think Europe, in terms of global computing power, represents something like 5% of what's available out there. And without computing power, you cannot build the AI models you need to stay ahead of the competition and to be able to... Create models that can be adopted by your industry. So Europe is really far behind in terms of data centers, in terms of chips, and in terms of kind of general computing power. We have plenty of PhD, very bright PhD and researchers, but the problem is in scaling this expertise and this brain trust into real technological and industrial scale. And this is where Europe is struggling. There seems to be growing anger against data centers. How will EU leaders try to balance this desire to improve AI development with a lot of public concern about all the environmental risks that come with data centers? Yes, clearly. I mean, these AI data centers are very hungry for energy, for water and for space and things that are quite limited or expensive in Europe, especially. And look at the U.S., which has plenty of space and quite a plentiful of natural resources. And yet that was one of the main issues that the U.S. voters had against the Republican Party and Donald Trump. So I think this is a clear warning to the European leaders and governments that as they need to build more computing power, they need to have more data centers based in Europe, also for our own sovereignty. We need to do it in a way that is sustainable from not just an ecological point of view, but also from a political, social point of view. And that's easy to say, but how do you get Brussels to do that? What needs to happen concretely? Well, I think we need to find ways for these data centers to basically operate on greener energy or more sustainable energy like nuclear power. We need to find ways that the space used for those data centers is obviously not necessarily overlapping with local communities to an extent where it creates clash. But we also need to better communicate the need to build this infrastructure. This is for Europe's own sake. This is not just to please the Americans. It's actually to be able to be European in this big technological race that is taking place now. And the summit was originally expected to just focus on AI. It's since been opened up as peace talks or peace efforts are accelerating between the United States, Russia and Ukraine. Why this last minute change? Well, because we have seen these Abu Dhabi talks and then the shuttle diplomacy by Jared Kushner and Bidkov in Moscow and now in Dublin. So there is a clear attempt by the United States, together with the Europeans and Ukraine, to have a more meaningful peace negotiations. However, what is clear is that the Russians still have very strong maximalist positions. And that, therefore, it's very hard to see whether they will be even close to a ceasefire over the winter. And then to finish, I think the Europeans are also overly worried and gesticulating about whether they have a place at the table, whether they're in the same room or in a different room. I think what they should do is to focus on making Ukraine's hands stronger, Starting with giving more interceptors. Ukraine so that the Ukrainians can protect their cities and the population, which is where the Russians are exerting a huge amount of pressure. And countries like Germany, Poland, but also Spain and Greece have enough interceptors to help Ukraine see through the winter. And yet, for political reasons, those countries are not delivering the interceptors needed for Ukraine to protect itself. And this is not just for Ukraine's own sake. This is for Europe to have. A bigger seat at the table and a bigger say. So I think there is a sense of urgency here they should have. But even if Europe is able to increase military support for Ukraine, is that enough to increase its political influence over Washington and Moscow? Well, actually, it could be really critical to give Ukraine a slightly better position in those negotiations, because the reality is that the Russians have enough ballistic missiles to inflict huge damage and pain on Ukraine. And as long as this is done in a non-contained way through air defence interceptors, Ukraine is going to come to the negotiation table in a weaker position. So we need to strengthen Ukraine's position to be able to have an outcome or at least negotiations that are more positive from a Ukrainian-European point of view. And do you think Vladimir Putin is ready to reach a deal? Is it in his interest? That's a good question. And I think what is lacking here is obviously the U.S. pressure on Russia, which is the key. And the U.S. is the one country that can exert a quite significant leverage over Moscow. And clearly, Donald Trump refuses to do so. And on the other hand, on the contrary, he's exerting leverage and pressure on President Zelensky and Ukraine. To come in a weaker position to the negotiation table. And this is the question of the Starlink, Starshield service disruption. So I agree with you that clearly Putin is not signaling a huge interest for a huge sense of urgency for settling this and coming to a peace resolution. But it's in the hands of the U.S. president. And I think we should let also the Ukrainians continue their strikes against the Russian And energy. critical infrastructure, because this is the one card they have in their hand and the one point of pressure that we have against Russia right now. Fabrice, thank you so much for your time. Fabrice Potier from Rasmussen Global. Thank you. Thank you very much.